Reverse lookup of mobile location

ABSTRACT

Location-based services are provided in a communication system comprising at least a portion of at least one wireless network. In one aspect of the invention, particular ones of a plurality of mobile user devices associated with a wireless network are identified for which sufficient location-indicative information is available from which a general location of said devices can be inferred without performing actual location measurements for said devices. The delivery of location queries to the identified mobile user devices is prevented, such that a number of location queries required for provision of a given location-based service is reduced relative to a number of location queries which would otherwise be required without the delivery prevention.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is related to the following U.S. patentapplications:

Ser. No. 11/437,154, entitled “Methods and Apparatus for ProvidingLocation-Based Services in a Wireless Communication System.”

Ser. No. 11/437,065, entitled “Auctioning of Message DeliveryOpportunities in a Location-Based Services System.”

Ser. No. 11/437,166, entitled “Provision of Location-Based ServicesUtilizing User Movement Statistics.”

Ser. No. 11/437,157, entitled “Prioritization of Location Queries in aLocation-Based Services System.”

Ser. No. 11/437,105, entitled “Traffic-Synchronized LocationMeasurement.”

Ser. No. 11/437,104, entitled “Mobile-Initiated Location Measurement.”

Ser. No. 11/437,152, entitled “Broadcast Channel Delivery ofLocation-Based Services Information.”

All of the above-listed applications are filed concurrently herewith,and are incorporated by reference herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to wireless networks and othertypes of wireless communication systems, and more particularly totechniques for providing location-based message delivery and otherservices to mobile user devices in such systems.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A wide variety of different types of wireless communication systems areknown. For example, a typical wireless cellular network includes amultitude of interconnected base stations which communicate with mobileuser devices within defined coverage areas.

Recently, techniques have been developed which deliver advertising orother types of messages to mobile user devices based on the currentlocations of those devices. Thus, if a given user device is determinedto be in close proximity to a particular retail establishment, anadvertisement associated with that establishment may be delivered to theuser device.

Examples of techniques of this type are described in U.S. PatentApplication Publication Nos. 2002/0095333, entitled “Real-Time WirelessE-Coupon (Promotion) Definition Based On Available Segment,”2002/0164977, entitled “System and Method for Providing Short MessageTargeted Advertisements Over a Wireless Communications Network,”2003/0198346, entitled “Push Delivery Service Providing Method,Information Providing Service System, Server System and User Station,”2004/0209602, entitled “Location-Based Content Delivery,” 2005/0221843,entitled “Distribution of Location Specific Advertising Information ViaWireless Communication Network,” 2005/0227711, entitled “Method andApparatus for Creating, Directing, Storing and Automatically Deliveringa Message to an Intended Recipient Upon Arrival of a Specified MobileObject at a Designated Location,” and 2006/0058037, entitled “CustomInformation For Wireless Subscribers Based on Proximity.”

Unfortunately, conventional wireless communication systems such as thosedescribed in the above-cited references suffer from a number ofsignificant drawbacks. For example, the conventional systems aretypically configured in a manner which can lead to excessive locationqueries or other types of location-related communications between thebase stations and the mobile user devices, thereby undermining theability of the systems to support their primary voice and data trafficfunctionality. Also, the above-noted systems are lacking in terms of therevenue-generating capabilities that are provided. In view of these andother problems associated with conventional practice, a need exists forimproved techniques for delivering location-based services to mobileuser devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention in one or more illustrative embodiments providesimproved techniques for delivering location-based services to mobileuser devices associated with a wireless network.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, particular ones of aplurality of mobile user devices are identified for which sufficientlocation-indicative information is available from which a generallocation of said devices can be inferred without performing actuallocation measurements for said devices. This approach of inferringmobile device location without making actual location measurements isgenerally referred to herein as “reverse lookup” or RL. The delivery oflocation queries to the identified mobile user devices is prevented,such that a number of location queries required for provision of a givenlocation-based service is advantageously reduced relative to a number oflocation queries which would otherwise be required without the deliveryprevention. The delivery of location queries may be prevented, forexample, by preventing delivery of forward lookup location requests. Atleast one message may be controllably delivered to a given one of theidentified mobile user devices based on the general location of saiddevice as inferred from the location-indicative information.

The location-indicative information may comprise information indicatingwhich of the mobile user devices are registered in one of a homelocation register and a visitor location register of a given cell of thewireless network. As other examples, the location-indicative informationmay comprise a list of currently-registered mobile user devices, orsignaling data records of the wireless network. Such signaling datarecords may be stored in a switching element of the wireless network,and may comprise at least one of a roundtrip delay measurement and apilot strength measurement.

In an illustrative embodiment, operations associated with reverse lookupare implemented at least in part in a location-based services system,referred to herein as a Gcast™ system, which may be coupled to a messageservice center or other element of the wireless network via a gateway.The location-based services system may be coupled to a marketing messagedatabase and a subscriber information database. The location-basedservices system may comprise, by way of example, at least one processingdevice accessible to a browser-equipped external processing device overan Internet protocol network. The location-based services system maycomprise a location server that is configured to minimizelocation-related communications between the mobile user devices and basestations of the wireless network by, for example, eliminating duplicatelocation queries and prioritizing location queries.

The present invention in the illustrative embodiments providessignificant advantages over the conventional systems identified above.For example, the number of location queries and other types oflocation-related communications that are required can be considerablyreduced, while still allowing implementation of a wide variety oflocation-based services within the communication system. This preventslocation-related communications from overwhelming the wireless networkand interfering with the primary voice and data traffic functionality ofthat network. Furthermore, many additional revenue-generatingcapabilities are provided, including the auction of message deliveryopportunities, as well as more effective marketing through utilizationof user movement statistics.

These and other features and advantages of the present invention willbecome more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the followingdetailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a combination block and flow diagram illustrating the generalconfiguration and operation of a wireless communication systemcomprising a location-based services system in an illustrativeembodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show possible implementations of at least a portion ofthe FIG. 1 wireless communication system.

FIG. 3 shows a more detailed view of the location-based services systemof the FIG. 1 wireless communication system.

FIGS. 4A through 4D show examples of location-based services that may beprovided by the location-based services system of FIG. 3 in the wirelesscommunication system of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention will be illustrated below in conjunction withexemplary wireless communication systems and associated location-basedservices. It should be understood, however, that the invention is notlimited to use with any particular type of wireless system orlocation-based service(s). The disclosed techniques are suitable for usewith a wide variety of other systems and in providing numerousalternative services. For example, the described techniques areapplicable to many different types of wireless networks, including thoseutilizing well-known standards such as UMTS, W-CDMA, CDMA2000, HSDPA,IEEE 802.11, etc. The term “wireless communication system” as usedherein is intended to include these and other types of wirelessnetworks, as well as sub-networks or other portions of such networks andcombinations of multiple networks operating in accordance withpotentially different standards. A given wireless communication systemmay also include as a component thereof one or more wired networks orportions of such wired networks.

FIG. 1 shows a wireless communication system 100 in an illustrativeembodiment of the invention. The communication system 100 comprises alocation-based services system 102, which is illustratively referred toherein as a Gcast™ system, where Gcast™ is a trademark of LucentTechnologies Inc. of Murray Hill, N.J., USA. The Gcast™ system 102receives message information from a marketing message database 104 andsubscriber information from a subscriber information database 106, andis coupled to one or more billing gateways 107 and messaging gateways108 as shown.

Also included in the communication system 100 is a wireless network 110comprising a number of subscriber devices 112 which communicate withbase stations 114. The base stations 114 are arranged in respectivecells 115 of the wireless network 110. Although the wireless network 110is illustratively configured as a wireless cellular network, which maybe, for example, an otherwise conventional UMTS network, other types ofwireless networks may be used in implementing the invention.

The subscriber devices 112 are illustratively shown in FIG. 1 andelsewhere herein as cellular telephones, and may be viewed as examplesof what are more generally referred to herein as mobile user devices.Such devices may also be referred to herein as mobile stations or assimply “mobiles.” The invention is not restricted to use with anyparticular type of mobile user device, and mobile user devices hereinmay comprise, for example, portable or laptop computers, personaldigital assistants (PDAs), wireless email devices, or other portableprocessing devices, in any combination.

The communication system 100 further includes a computer network 120that is comprised of multiple computers 121 and is associated with atleast one marketing agent 122. The computer network 120 providesmarketing information that is stored in the marketing message database104. Alternatively, the marketing information may be stored directly inthe Gcast™ system 102, or partially in the marketing message database104 and partially in the Gcast™ system 102.

Wireless subscribers 130, which may be users of the subscriber devices112, provide profile information 132 within communication system 100.This profile information may comprise, for example, opt-in lists orother user preferences, demographic information, or other types ofprofile information generated from, for example, point-of-sale (POS)questionnaires, responses to billing inserts, service provider (SP)websites, or any other source of subscriber profile information. Theprofile information may be stored, for example, in subscriberinformation database 106 and thereby made accessible to the Gcast™system 102. Alternatively, the profile information 132 may be storeddirectly in the Gcast™ system 102, or partially in the subscriberinformation database 106 and partially in the Gcast™ system 102.

It should be noted that at least a portion of the profile information,as well as or alternatively marketing information, location and presenceinformation, or other types of information utilized by the Gcast™ system102, may be stored on one or more of the subscriber devices 112, or inone or more other system elements. For example, a given subscriberdevice may store location, presence and profile information for thatdevice, and provide such information to the Gcast™ system 102 on anas-needed basis.

One possible mode of operation of the communication system 100 in theillustrative embodiment is indicated generally by Steps 1 through 5 asshown in the figure. It is to be appreciated that, although thecommunication system operations in this embodiment are directed towardsdelivery of advertising messages, the described techniques can beadapted in a straightforward manner for use in delivery of any type ofcontent associated with any type of location-based service. The contentcan be generated by a variety of different entities, rather than justmarketing entities as in the present example, and such other entitiesmay include the subscribers themselves. Also, the particular operationsneed not occur sequentially in the order shown, for example, certain ofthe steps may be performed at least in part concurrently with oneanother.

In Step 1, the computer system 120 associated with marketing agent 122is utilized to collect advertising content and target profiles for thatadvertising content. Although only a single networked computer systemassociated with a single marketing agent is shown in this example, otherembodiments may include multiple marketing agents or other types ofmarketing entities, each having its own computer system.

In Step 2, opt-in lists are built and other types of profile information132 are collected for the wireless subscribers 130. As indicatedpreviously, this information may be stored in the subscriber informationdatabase 106.

In Step 3, subscriber location and presence information in subscriberinformation database 106 is automatically collected and updated bycommunication with the wireless network 110. The location informationmay indicate, for example, the current locations of respective ones ofthe subscriber devices. The presence information may indicate, forexample, whether the user of a given subscriber device is currentlyparticipating in an active voice call on that device, or whether theuser is in a meeting or otherwise occupied or unavailable.

In Step 4, a rules engine in the Gcast™ system 102 matches marketingmessages from the marketing message database 104 to appropriatesubscribers based on information stored in the subscriber informationdatabase 106.

In Step 5, the messages matched to respective subscribers in the rulesengine of the Gcast™ system 102 are delivered to those subscribers attheir respective subscriber devices 112 via one or more of the basestations 114 of the wireless network 110.

Referring now to FIG. 2A, an example of one possible implementation ofat least a portion of the communication system 100 of FIG. 1 is shown.In the communication system 100 as shown in FIG. 2A, the Gcast™ system102 of FIG. 1 is implemented in a network operations center 202 that isseparate from the wireless network 110. The network operations center202 communicates with one or more processing devices of the wirelessnetwork 110 via a conventional integrated services gateway (ISG) 204.

More specifically, the ISG 204 communicates with a first processingdevice 210 comprising one or more of a mobile positioning center (MPC)and a gateway mobile location center (GMLC), and with a secondprocessing device 212 comprising one or more of a short message servicecenter (SMSC) and a multimedia message service center (MMSC). Thewireless network 110 in this embodiment further comprises at least oneadditional processing device 214, which illustratively comprises one ormore of a home location register (HLR), mobile switching center (MSC), aposition determining element (PDE) and possibly one or more additionalelements such as a visitor location register (VLR), serving GPRS supportnode (SGSN), location services element (LCS), etc. It should beunderstood that the notation “/” as used in FIG. 2A and elsewhere hereinrefers generally to “and/or.” Conventional operations associated withwireless network elements such as the above-noted MPC, GMLC, SMSC, MMSC,HLR, MSC, PDE, VLR, SGSN and LCS are well known to those skilled in thisart, and are therefore not described in detail herein.

A given one of the processing devices 210, 212 and 214 in wirelessnetwork 110 may be implemented as one or more computers, servers,switches, storage elements or other elements in any combination.Generally, such processing devices comprise at least one processorcoupled to at least one memory, and can be configured to executesoftware programs for providing functionality associated with thetechniques described herein. Although particular network elements suchas MPC, GMLC, SMSC, MMSC, HLR, MSC and PDE are shown in FIG. 2A as beingassociated with particular ones of the processing devices 210, 212 and214, this is by way of illustrative example only. In alternativeembodiments, each such network element may be implemented using one ormore dedicated processing devices, or other combinations of theseelements may be implemented using one or more shared processing devices.The term “processing device” as used herein is therefore intended to beconstrued generally, so as to encompass any processor-based devicesuitable for use in providing at least a portion of the functionalityassociated with a given location-based service.

The Gcast™ system 102 in the FIG. 2A embodiment comprises an arbitrarynumber N of processing devices, denoted 220-1 through 220-N. Asindicated above, each such processing device may be implemented as oneor more computers, servers, switches, storage elements or other elementsin any combination. For example, one of the processing devices 220 maycomprise a web server accessible over a network. Also, although theGcast™ system is shown in FIG. 2A as comprising multiple processingdevices 220, in alternative embodiments, the Gcast™ system may beimplemented using only a single such device. Again, as indicatedpreviously, such a processing device generally comprises a processorcoupled to a memory.

The term “location-based services system” as used herein is intended toencompass, for example, the Gcast™ system 102 of FIGS. 1 and 2A, or anyother arrangement of one or more processing devices, each comprising atleast one processor coupled to at least one memory. A given such systemmay be implemented internal to a wireless network, that is, within abase station or other element of that network, or external to thewireless network. The system may alternatively be implemented in adistributed manner, with portions being internal to the wireless networkand other portions being external to the wireless network. Moreover, alocation-based services system may be configured to include one or moreof the system components that are shown in FIG. 1 or 2A as beingexternal to the Gcast™ system 102. For example, elements such as one ormore of the computers 121 associated with marketing agent 122 in FIG. 1,or one or more of the processing devices 204, 232 or 235, may be part ofa given location-based services system in an alternative embodiment.

Information passed between the Gcast™ system 102 and the wirelessnetwork 110 via the ISG 204 includes, in the present example, locationsof the mobile subscriber devices 112, as indicated by dashed line 224between processing device 210 and the Gcast™ system 102, and messagestargeted to respective ones of the subscriber devices 112, as indicatedby dashed line 225 between processing device 212 and the Gcast™ system102. Although ISG 204 is used as an interface between the Gcast™ system102 and the wireless network 110 in this embodiment, other types ofinterfaces may be used in other embodiments.

The Gcast™ system 102 is also coupled in this example via an Internetprotocol (IP) network 230 to at least one computer 232 which is equippedwith a web browser 234. The web browser 234 may be used, for example, toaccess a map server 235 over the IP network 230. Other types of webservers can also be accessed, in a conventional manner, via the webbrowser 234 of the computer 232. One of such servers may be a web serverimplemented within the Gcast™ system itself, using one or more of theprocessing devices 220. The computer 232 may be, for example, one of thecomputers 121 of the marketing agent computer system 120 in FIG. 1. Themarketing agent is also referred to as an advertising service provider(AdSP) or advertising campaign manager in this embodiment.Alternatively, such a computer, or another similar computer of otherprocessing device, may be associated with a system administrator, anentity of the wireless service provider, or a particular one of thesubscribers. Of course, each such entity may have its ownbrowser-equipped computer or computers in a given embodiment of theinvention.

Referring now to FIG. 2B, a more detailed view of one possibleinterconnection of certain elements of the system 100 is shown. In thisembodiment, abase station 114 communicates with a mobile user device 112and an MSC 250 as shown. The MSC 250 is coupled to PDE 252 and MPC 254.The MSC 250 is also coupled to SMSC 256, HLR 258 and VLR 260 as shown.MPC 254 interacts with one or more LCS elements 262. Advertising contentand other types of location-based service content are accessible in thisembodiment from element 264, illustratively designated in the figure asan ad content element, via SMSC 256 and MSC 250. Element 264 mayrepresent a component of the Gcast™ system 102 or other component ofcommunication system 100. Again, conventional aspects of the operationof wireless network elements such as those shown in FIG. 2B are wellknown, and therefore will not be described in detail herein. Also,numerous alternative arrangements of wireless network elements may beused in other implementations of the invention. For example, inalternative embodiments the PDE may be eliminated and the positiondetermination or other type of mobile user device location measurementmay be performed entirely within the mobile user device itself.

The LCS element 262 in FIG. 2B may implement at least a portion of theGcast™ system 102 in the illustrative embodiment. Thus, the Gcast™system 102 may be viewed as an otherwise conventional LCS elementsuitably modified to incorporate one or more aspects of thelocation-based services techniques described herein. Such an LCS elementmay, but need not, reside within the wireless network 110. Althoughshown as communicating with the MPC 254 in FIG. 2B, the LCS element inother embodiments may communicate directly with other system elements,such as, for example, MSC 250, PDE 252, SMSC 256, etc.

As will be described in greater detail below, the Gcast™ system 102proactively delivers messages to subscribers based on a combination oflocation, presence and profile information. As noted above, the locationinformation may indicate, for example, the current geographic locationof the subscriber device 112 associated with a particular subscriber,while the presence information may indicate, for example, whether theparticular subscriber is currently participating in an active voice callon the subscriber device. It was indicated previously that other typesof presence information may include, for example, indications as towhether the subscriber is in a meeting or otherwise occupied orunavailable. The profile information, also as indicated previously, maycomprise subscriber preferences, demographic information, and the like.

The messages in the illustrative embodiments may comprise “push”messages, and include advertisements or any other type of content thatmay be targeted to one or more subscriber devices in conjunction withthe provision of location-based services. Thus, as a more particularexample, the messages may comprise push advertisements directed to allsubscriber devices currently located within a given zip code or otherspecified geographic area, not participating in an active voice call,and assigned to subscribers fitting a particular user preference andtarget demographic profile.

FIG. 3 shows the Gcast™ system 102 of FIGS. 1 and 2A in greater detail.It is to be appreciated that the particular elements shown within Gcast™system 102 in this embodiment are presented by way of example only, andother embodiments may comprise a subset of the illustrative elements aswell as additional or alternative elements not shown. Also, numerousalternative location-based services system architectures may be used inimplementing the invention.

The Gcast™ system 102 as shown in FIG. 3 comprises a number of layers,including an application support layer 300, an application enablinglayer 302, a location-based services (LBS) enabling layer 304 and anetwork connectivity layer 306. Also included are services components308 illustratively comprising hosting, carrier management, privacymanagement, integration, custom application development, contentaggregation and billing management.

The application support layer 300 comprises configuration profiles 310and development tools 312. The configuration profiles 310 may beassociated with, for example, horizontal end-user applications, verticalmarket bundles, or other types of configuration information. Thedevelopment tools may comprise software development kits (SDKs),application programming interfaces (APIs), middleware, etc.

The application enabling layer 302 allows applications to be writtenwhich can make use of the location-based service capabilities of theGcast™ system 102 across diverse networks to provide context-sensitivetargeted messages. The application enabling layer 302 comprises theabove-noted rules engine 320, for matching messages from marketingmessage database 104 with appropriate subscribers whose information isstored in the database 106, as previously described in conjunction withFIG. 1. Other elements of the application enabling layer 302 include aservice management component 322, a subscriber management component 324,and a content management component 326, the latter being associated withadditional components including electronic coupons 328 and mobilecommerce (M-commerce) component 330. The M-commerce component 330supports the provision of electronic commerce applications, such ason-line shopping, via mobile user devices of the system.

The LBS enabling layer 304 comprises a location server 350. The locationserver is advantageously configured to minimize the number of locationqueries generated in the wireless network by, for example, eliminatingduplicate queries and prioritizing queries based on the importance ofthe applications making those queries. Other components of the LBSenabling layer include a messaging server 352, a privacy guard component354, a billing component 356 and a security component 358.

The network connectivity layer 306 comprises a location and presencequery module 360 and a messaging module 362. The location and presencequery module works across diverse types of wireless network technologiesto obtain user location and presence information. For example, in thisembodiment, it can obtain location and presence information usingcellular triangulation techniques such as Advanced Forward LinkTrilateration (AFLT), global positioning system (GPS) techniques such asassisted GPS (AGPS), and IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) techniques, although asindicated previously, location and presence information determinationfor other types of wireless networks can also be supported. Themessaging module delivers and receives messages across a variety ofmedia, such as, for example, short message service (SMS), multimediamessage service (MMS), Email, instant messaging (IM), etc.

The Gcast™ system 102 can be utilized to implement a wide variety oflocation-based services, including geographic messaging, in-storecoupons, user-defined lifestyle alerts, and event-related marketing, aswill now be illustrated in conjunction with FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C and 4D,respectively. It should be understood that these are merely examples,and numerous other types of location-based services can be provided in aparticularly efficient manner using the Gcast™ system 102.

FIG. 4A shows an example of the above-noted geographic messagingservice, also referred to herein as GMS™, where GMS™ is a trademark ofLucent Technologies Inc. of Murray Hill, N.J., USA. Generally, in theGMS™ service, a sender submits messages to the system for delivery to arecipient, with the delivery occurring when the subscriber device 112 ofthat recipient enters a designated location. Messages may be submitted,by way of example, from one of the subscriber devices 112, from acomputer such as computer 232, or from another system element. Examplesshown in FIG. 4A include a welcoming message 402, a restaurantrecommendation 404, a waiting notice 406 and various errand reminders408. It should be noted that the sender and the recipient may be thesame subscriber. That is, a given subscriber may wish to receive areminder to pick up something when he or she enters the vicinity of aparticular store. That subscriber can submit a GMS™ message from his orher subscriber device for delivery back to that subscriber device whenit enters the appropriate geographic location. Of course, numerous othertypes of GMS™ messages can be supported based on combinations oflocation, presence and profile information. Also, the message mayincorporate additional information, such as relevant portions of one ormore maps retrieved from the map server 235. A subscriber may be chargeda flat fee per month for use of the GMS™ service, or may be charged perGMS™ message submitted. Other pricing models may also be used, forexample, the pricing may be subsidized by marketing messagesincorporated in or otherwise added to the GMS™ messages.

Referring now to FIG. 4B, an example of a location-based serviceinvolving in-store electronic coupons is shown. In this example, amerchant delivers electronic coupons to the subscriber devices ofopted-in customers upon those customers entering the vicinity of thestore. The coupon may be in the form of a message 410 presented on thedisplay of a given subscriber device 112 as shown. Coupons are selectedbased on customer profiles, such as profile information 132 in system100. Possible pricing models for this exemplary service may involvemerchants paying a flat fee per coupon delivered, merchants paying a feeper coupon redeemed, or other arrangements.

FIG. 4C shows an example of the above-noted lifestyle alerts service. Inthis example, subscribers are alerted regarding traffic andweather-related incidents around their current location or on theirexpected path ahead. A given alert 412 is presented to a subscriber onhis or her associated subscriber device 112. As in the other examplesdescribed above, the message may incorporate additional information,such as maps from the map server 235. A typical pricing model would be aflat monthly fee charged to subscribers for the service. Advertisementsmay be included with the alerts in order to partially or completelysubsidize the service for subscribers.

An example of an event-related marketing service is shown in FIG. 4D. Inthis example, an event organizer or merchant at a sporting event,concert or other type of event sends marketing or other informationalmessages to the subscriber devices of an opted-in audience ofsubscribers. The content may be customized to the profiles of respectivesubscribers. As an example, a message 414 indicating gift items on salemay be presented on the display of a subscriber device 112 locatedwithin a stadium or other event venue. More particular examples mayinclude messages such as “Reply to this message to buy an MMS clip ofthe goal just scored and forward it to your friends” or “New YorkYankees® T-shirts on sale for the next 30 minutes.” Again, possiblepricing models may involve charging merchants per message delivered,with higher prices for completed transactions.

As mentioned previously, numerous other location-based services may beimplemented in an efficient manner using the Gcast™ system 102 of theillustrative embodiments. One advantage of these embodiments is that thenumber of location queries and other types of location-relatedcommunications required between the base stations 114 and the subscriberdevices 112 can be reduced, while still allowing implementation of awide variety of location-based services within the communication system100. The Gcast™ system 102 is thus configured to preventlocation-related communications from overwhelming the wireless network110 and interfering with the primary voice and data trafficfunctionality of that network.

Examples of techniques for reducing the number of location-relatedcommunications will be described in a number of separate sections below,including sections denoted Prioritizing Location Queries,Traffic-Synchronized Location Measurement, Mobile-Initiated LocationMeasurement, Broadcast Channel Delivery of LBS Information, and ReverseLookup. Before these sections are presented, a number of additionalfeatures of the Gcast™ system 102 will be described. These features aredescribed in the following sections entitled Auctioning of MessageDelivery Opportunities, and User Movement Statistics. In a finalsection, a number of exemplary location measurement techniques arepresented, including a trajectory method, an expanding-disk method and anucleation-area method.

Auctioning of Message Delivery Opportunities

The communication system 100 as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 may beconfigured to permit auctioning of message delivery opportunities, so asto provide an additional source of revenue in the system. In anembodiment of this type, the Gcast™ system 102 allows marketers or otherinterested parties to bid on particular available slots or otheropportunities for delivery of marketing messages to subscriber devices112. Assuming for purposes of illustration that a fixed number ofmessages belonging to certain categories (e.g., coffee ads) can bedelivered in a given location (e.g., a mall) at a given time (e.g.,Sundays), a given message delivery opportunity comprising a specifiedcategory-location-time combination can be bid for by the partiesinterested in pushing the messages (e.g., various coffee advertisers).The Gcast™ system may make use of real time and historical informationabout the popularity of a given location-category-time combination tofacilitate the bidding for the corresponding message deliveryopportunity. Other types of message delivery opportunities can beauctioned in a similar manner, for example, opportunities based onlocation-category, category-time or location-time combinations.

A message delivery opportunity auction of the type described above canbe controlled at least in part via software running on one or more ofthe processing devices 220 of the Gcast™ system 102. Such software mayinclude, for example, a bidding engine and a corresponding web site thatallows interested parties to access the bidding engine via respectivecomputers or other devices coupled to IP network 230. Such devices maybe browser-equipped devices similar to computer 232. The auction mayoccur in real time, for example, based on the current number of messagesthat can be delivered to subscriber devices 112 in wireless network 110.Alternatively, the auction may be based on an estimated count ofmessages that can be delivered at some future point in time.

User Movement Statistics

The communication system 100 may also or alternatively be configured todetermine user movement statistics and to utilize such statistics tofacilitate delivery of marketing messages or other types of messages tosubscribers. For example, such statistics may capture the flow of usersin conjunction with their profile information. This would allow thesystem to determine how many users of certain profiles are likely to bein a given area in a given period, and such information can be used tofacilitate the establishment of advertising campaigns by marketingagents in the system. For example, the movement statistics would allowan advertiser to create a campaign to deliver advertisements to opted-insubscribers with matching profiles entering a given region in a givenperiod of time (e.g., males between 15 and 25 within 1 mile of a mall onSundays), while providing the advertiser with an a priori estimate ofthe likely success of the campaign.

In operation, the communication system 100 may obtain profileinformation for users associated with respective subscriber devices 112of the wireless network 110, obtain location information for thesubscriber devices 112, and generate user movement statistics based onthe location and profile information. The system then controls thedelivery of at least one message to a given one of the devices based onthe user movement statistics.

The statistics may be used, for example, to estimate the impact of amarketing campaign, to determine prices charged to advertisers formessage delivery, or to establish appropriate bid levels for theabove-noted auction of message delivery opportunities. The statisticsmay be computed at least in part using the location, presence andprofile information stored in subscriber information database 106, assuch information is routinely gathered and updated in conjunction withthe message delivery functions of the communication system.

Prioritizing Location Queries

As noted previously, an aspect of the present invention relates to theprioritization of location queries in the communication system 100. Thisprioritization, which may be implemented using the location server 350of the LBS enabling layer 304 in Gcast™ system 102 as shown in FIG. 3,will now be described in greater detail.

Conventional systems comprising wireless network elements such as theabove-noted MPC and GMLC utilize such elements to determine thelocations of the mobile devices 112. For example, location-based serviceapplications may query these network elements in order to obtain mobiledevice locations when needed. Location-based service applicationstypically query the network elements for device locations on demand, inan approach commonly referred to as forward lookup (FL). In the FLapproach, the network elements typically page the mobile user devices inorder to determine their respective locations. Thus, the paging channelcarries a large burden, since a given mobile device has to be pagedevery time a location measurement involving that mobile device isperformed, and this paging often has to be performed over a largenetwork area involving many cells. However, the conventional systems aredeficient in that the number of location queries that can be supportedwithin a given period of time is often very small, on the order of about5 to 30 queries per second. While this number of location queries may besufficient for low-throughput applications such as emergency 911services, it is inadequate for location-based services that involve, forexample, substantially continuous monitoring of subscriber devicelocations to support the delivery of push messages such asadvertisements.

The communication system 100 of FIG. 1 is advantageously configured inan illustrative embodiment to provide improved scalability oflocation-based services, while minimizing any revenue losses incurred bynot delivering a message. This embodiment utilizes a software algorithmfor scheduling user location queries such that users whose locations are“less beneficial” to the corresponding location-based servicesapplication are queried less frequently than others. This is an exampleof an arrangement in which users associated with respective mobile userdevices of the system are separated into at least first and secondgroups of users having respective first and second benefit classes.

The various benefit classes may be defined based on respective perceivedbenefits to a provider of a given location-based service, or using othertechniques. An approach of this type, in which different benefit classesare defined based on perceived benefit to a service provider or othertypes of benefit quantification, uses the benefit classes to determinehow often particular mobile user devices are queried for theirlocations. Such approaches provide significant advantages relative toconventional FL approaches, and are also referred to herein as “smartlookup” approaches. The reverse lookup approach described in greaterdetail below may be viewed as another type of smart lookup.

The benefit of a user location response may be defined, for example, asthe ability to send an advertisement or other revenue-generating messageto the user. As described elsewhere herein, such messages may be sentbased on a match between the message and the user based on a combinationof location, presence and profile information. The software algorithm,which may be part of the above-noted location server 350, may utilizelocation information for a given user to prioritize location queries.This allows the system to handle a larger number of users for a givennetwork throughput while also minimizing revenue losses. As a result,scalability of location-based service applications is improved whiledeployment cost is reduced.

The location information utilized to prioritize location queries may beobtained, for example, using the trajectory method, expanding-diskmethod or nucleation-area method described below, or using otherlocation measurement techniques. As a more particular example, thelocation information may comprise a probability that a particular userwill be in a particular geographic area at a particular time.

Traffic-Synchronized Location Measurement

As described above, the conventional FL approach does not scale well forlocation-based service applications that involve frequent monitoring ofmobile user device locations. This is attributable to the limitedcapacity of the paging channel, as well as the limited throughput ofwireless network elements such as the MPC and GMLC.

In an illustrative embodiment of the communication system 100, thisproblem is further alleviated by the provision of traffic-synchronizedlocation measurement. Generally, such an approach involves automaticallyperforming location measurements for any of the mobile user devices thatare currently active on a traffic channel within the wireless network110. This advantageously synchronizes location measurement initiationwith traffic channel activity.

The location measurements can be performed using techniques such asAFLT, AGPS or others, as well as combinations of such techniques. Thetraffic channel may be associated with a voice call, an SMS message, anMMS message, or any other type of communication. The term “trafficchannel” in this context is therefore intended to be construed broadly.The mobile user device location measurement data can be sent over thereverse link of the traffic channel. The forward link of the trafficchannel can be used, for example, to forward satellite information orother assist data for AGPS. This traffic-synchronized locationmeasurement advantageously leads to higher scalability of location-basedservice applications at a lower cost.

One possible implementation of the above-described traffic-synchronizedlocation measurement feature in the communication system 100 will now bedescribed in greater detail, with reference again to FIG. 2B. In thisparticular implementation, a location measurement session is initiatedby the MSC 250 of FIG. 2B. The location measurement session canalternatively be initiated by another wireless network element, such asthe above-noted SGSN. The initiation may occur, by way of example, uponsetup and/or teardown of the traffic channel. Other possiblecircumstances for initiating a location measurement session include whena cell identifier (ID) of the mobile user device has changed or acorresponding active set has changed, both of which can be interpretedas an indication that the mobile user device has moved sufficiently tojustify a new location measurement.

The MSC 250 initiates the location measurement session by sending alocation measurement request to the MPC 254. This request containsinformation such as a mobile user device ID, user ID and cell ID.

The MPC 254 forwards the location measurement request to at least oneLCS 262, which compares the user ID to information in an associateddatabase. The LCS reports back to the MPC if a match was found and ifthe location measurement session is approved. Reasons for non-approvalcan be that the subscriber has denied location measurements, or that theLCS has just obtained a location update for this subscriber.

Assuming that a match was found and approval of the appropriate LCS 262is obtained, the MPC 254 sends the location measurement request to thePDE 252. The PDE initiates the location measurement via the MSC 250 andthe appropriate base station(s) 114 utilizing the traffic channel thatis already available. The mobile user device 112 sends locationmeasurement data back to the PDE along the same channel. The PDEdetermines the location based on the mobile user device measurementdata, and reports the results to the MPC. The MPC in turn sends theresults to the LCS that approved the location measurement session.

In another possible implementation, the MSC 250 or other wirelessnetwork element may perform the location measurement via triangulationutilizing roundtrip delay data obtained in a conventional manner.

In yet another possible implementation, the mobile user device 112itself, rather than the MSC 250 or another wireless network element,automatically initiates the location measurement process.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that numerous alternativeprocesses other than those described above may be used to implementtraffic-synchronized location measurement in accordance with the presentinvention.

It is to be appreciated that the traffic-synchronized locationmeasurement feature of a given embodiment of the invention can beimplemented using otherwise conventional standard communicationprotocols. For example, in a communication system comprising a CDMA2000wireless network, the above-described location measurement process mayclosely follow the protocols set forth in the associated standardsdocuments, including, for example, CDMA2000-Access NetworkInteroperability Specification (3GPP2 A.S0001-A V2.0), CDMA2000-TIA/EIALocation Services Enhancements (3GPP2 X.S0002.0 V1.0), andCDMA2000-Wireless Intelligent Network Support for Location-BasedServices (3GPP2 X.S0009-0 V1.0), all of which are incorporated byreference herein.

The traffic-synchronized location measurement approach described aboveavoids the need to page the mobile user devices independently forlocation measurements, thereby substantially reducing the paging channeloverhead. It also allows location-based services information to becommunicated in conjunction with data sessions, for example, during orright after completion of data sessions or voice calls. Under suchcircumstances, the subscriber typically pays an elevated degree ofattention to his or her mobile user device and is therefore more likelyto perceive the location-based service message and to react to it.Moreover, since the location measurements are relatively inexpensivewhen performed over an existing traffic channel, they can easily berepeated when the mobile device has undergone a handover to anothercell. This has the additional advantage that the mobile device locationcan be tracked and the associated information stored in a subscriberdatabase such as database 106 for reference at later times, forinstance, to derive user mobility patterns or other types of usermovement statistics.

Mobile-Initiated Location Measurement

A given embodiment of the invention may be configured such that one ormore of the mobile user devices autonomously performs locationmeasurements. For example, when its location has substantially changed,it may request a location readout session from the wireless network. Inthis session, the location measurement data are forwarded to the LCS.This approach is particularly well suited for use with mobile userdevices that are in an idle state.

In one possible implementation of a mobile-initiated locationmeasurement technique, the mobile user device determines its locationvia GPS or AGPS. For AGPS, the mobile user device requires satelliteinformation or other assist data to be forwarded from a cell in itsvicinity. For that purpose, all cells may broadcast the correspondingsatellite information or other assist data via a paging channel or othertype of broadcast channel, as will be described in greater detail below.The frequency of location measurements can be set at the mobile userdevice, provided via so-called “third-layer” messaging to the mobileuser device when powering-up, provided by a default, or provided usingother techniques.

When the mobile observes a sufficient location change, it requests alocation readout session from the network. For that purpose, it sends aburst on the access channel to the MSC 250 of FIG. 2B with a request tosetup a traffic channel for location readout. This process can beimplemented in a manner compliant with existing communication standards,such as the CDMA2000 standards referred to previously herein.

The MSC 250 performs the routine protocol steps for traffic channelsetup. It further provides the mobile user device ID and user ID to allLCSs 262 that provide location-based services to the mobile user device.The LCSs compare the user ID to the subscriber database and reply withan acknowledgement or denial. If at least one LCS has acknowledged thelocation readout session, the MSC sends a location measurement readoutcommand to the mobile user device. The mobile then returns the locationmeasurement data to the MSC. The MSC forwards the location measurementdata to the particular LCSs. The MSC can also keep a copy of thelocation measurement data in its database for future reference, forexample, in order to handle reverse lookup requests from one or more ofthe LCSs.

The use of mobile-initiated location measurement can facilitate thescaling of location-based services and reduce deployment costs. It canreduce paging channel overhead, and also reduce the signaling overheadbetween wireless network elements such as the MSC, LCSs, base stationsand mobile user devices.

Broadcast Channel Delivery of LBS Information

The communication system 100 of FIGS. 1 and 2 may be configured suchthat content-identifying information or other types of location-basedservice information are transmitted to the mobile user devices over apaging channel or other type of broadcast channel. Thecontent-identifying information may comprise information that identifiesparticular types of location-based service content that are available tothe mobile user devices, such that a given mobile can autonomouslyselect the particular available location-based service content it wishesto have delivered. Other types of location-based service informationthat can be delivered using a paging channel or other type of broadcastchannel comprise, for example, assist data for use in an AGPS locationprocess. Again, this feature facilitates scalability of location-basedservice applications, while reducing deployment costs.

As an illustration, consider a situation in which all the subscribers ina given cell 115 of the wireless network 110 want to initiate a locationmeasurement. Since the assist data for all of the subscribers in acommon cell is the same, a paging channel or other type of broadcastchannel could be used to deliver the assist data for AGPS. The returnedlocation measurement information may still be delivered over trafficchannels, although other types of channels, such as an access channel,may also be used for this purpose. This approach would advantageouslyreduce the time that the mobile user devices spend on the trafficchannels and eliminate use of the traffic channels for the assist datatransmission.

In another example, the above-noted paging channel or other type ofbroadcast channel may be used to deliver advertisements, electroniccoupons or other location-based service content to mobile user devicesin a common cell or other common geographic area. A given mobile userdevice may then store such broadcast content locally in its internalmemory and automatically retrieve portions of the content at appropriatetimes as determined, for example, based on a combination of location,presence and profile information. An arrangement of this type canadvantageously avoid the need for any use of the traffic channel indelivering location-based service content.

The location-based service content may be transmitted on a pagingchannel or other type of broadcast channel that is separate from thatused to transmit the assist data for AGPS.

In an arrangement in which content-identifying information istransmitted over a paging channel or other type of broadcast channel,the information may be in the form of a table of contents or other typeof content summary. A given content summary may comprise informationsuch as a content provider ID, a content reference ID, a contentclassification ID (e.g., can refer to alerts, ads, social networkinggroups, etc.), a geographical target location (e.g., minimum latitude,maximum latitude, minimum longitude, maximum longitude, etc.), and atime frame of validity (e.g., start time, end time, etc.).

As a more particular example, the content-identifying information may betransmitted over a slotted paging channel in the form of a linked listof content summaries. The list may start in one particular slot. Thisparticular slot may be the same for all cells in an area controlled bythe MSC and can be advertised to the mobile user devices via athird-layer message or other type of message delivered when the mobileuser devices power up or otherwise access base stations in the MSC area.Several content summaries may be fit into one slot. The last contentsummary in a given slot may be followed, for example, by a listtermination flag or by a pointer to the next slot, where the list iscontinued.

The content summaries may change from one cell to the next, such thateach cell presents summaries of only the content available in itsparticular coverage area. This reduces the overall paging overhead.However, since mobiles user devices often move from cell to cell veryfrequently, it may be desirable in some applications to presentsummaries of content available over areas comprising multiple cells.These areas could match the location areas used for conventional mobileuser device paging services, or other types of services. For example, amobile user device may determine that it has entered an area with adifferent set of content summaries by making use of one or more of theabove-noted content-related IDs. Such IDs may be transmitted as headerinformation with the content summaries.

This header can also include other information, such as the time whenthe last update occurred. A given mobile user device would then have todecode the entire list only when updates have occurred or upon enteringan area with different content-related IDs, which conserves mobile userdevice battery power. The header could also provide information whichidentifies the paging channel slots having content summaries that havebeen updated. This increases the overhead, but it allows mobile userdevices to perform selective decoding, which is faster and, again, savesbattery power.

Using the content summaries and its own location measurement, the mobileuser device can determine if any of the available location-based servicecontent is suited for the subscriber. If the mobile user device hasfound such a match, it sends a message to the appropriate contentprovider and requests the delivery of the corresponding content. In thismessage, the mobile user device may also provide a subscriber ID and/orother information to the content provider for authentication purposes.This authentication may be performed in addition to a standardauthentication performed with the wireless network upon request of atraffic channel. If the authentication is successful, the LCS or othersystem element returns the requested location-based service content tothe mobile user device.

The mobile user device may be provided with a content selectionalgorithm that determines, for example, how often location measurementsare to be performed, what the filter criteria are for selection fromavailable location-based service content, and other information relevantto the content selection process. Such an algorithm may be similar to aconventional FL algorithm, and downloaded from the network or athird-party provider. Alternatively, the algorithm could be determinedat least in part by the subscribers themselves. For example, a givensubscriber could define various selection criteria through interfacecommands. The subscriber may also be permitted to turn off alllocation-based service content features at the mobile user device withor without having a connection to the network. This allows completedecoupling between location-based service provision and contentselection, thereby providing a high level of security to the subscriber.

As another example, a subscriber may be permitted to selectlocation-based service content for particular locations where he or sheis not currently present. This allows the subscriber to participate inactivities at other locations. If alerted responsive to such selections,he or she can either decide to travel to that area or call a friend orfamily member in that area to participate in the activity (e.g., takeadvantage of coupons, sales, offers, etc).

As yet another example, enterprises can provide location-based servicesfor their employees. Such services can be matched specifically to theneeds of the enterprise and functions of particular employees.

A content selection algorithm of the type described above can beconfigured to search and display content alerts only when the subscriberis using the terminal. This ensures that the available location-basedservice content is made apparent at a time when the subscriber is payingattention to the device. It also saves battery power since it may allowthe device to return to a dormant state at other times. Since thecontent selection algorithm in this embodiment is assumed to be residenton the mobile user device, it can react to device activity even when thedevice is not active on a call but is instead used for other purposes,for example, when the subscriber checks an address book, a calendar, atime display, etc.

Reverse Lookup

Another feature that may be implemented in the communication system 100of FIGS. 1 and 2 is referred to herein as “reverse lookup” or RL. Asindicated above, the conventional FL approach is problematic in that itlimits scalability of location-based services, and can place excessivedemands on the traffic channels and other resources of the wirelessnetwork. The RL approach to be described below advantageously overcomesthe problems associated with the conventional FL approach. Like theother features described previously, this feature can provide higherscalability of location-based services at reduced cost.

Generally, the RL approach involves limiting FL location requests basedon information that is readily available at a given wireless networkelement such as the LCS 262 of FIG. 2B, such that the actual number ofexecuted location requests is substantially reduced.

A first illustrative example of the RL approach involves identifyingusers that are registered in the HLR 258 and/or VLR 260 of FIG. 2B. Morespecifically, a list of currently-registered users can be obtained fromthe HLR/VLR, and processed to identify one or more users that have beenrecently active in a given location of interest. This information canthen be utilized, for example, to send messages or other location-basedservice content to particular users right away, or to identify a reducedset of users for which FL location requests will be executed. The listof currently-registered users can be obtained, for example, via a batchlookup initiated by the LCS 262 or another wireless network element.

The above-described RL example based on identification of usersregistered in the HLR/VLR can advantageously eliminate the need toexecute FL location requests for those users that are not available forlocation-based services at a particular point in time, for example,because they are roaming in another network, have their mobile devicespowered down, are in a coverage hole, etc. This type of RL alsofacilitates the provision of location-based services to roaming users,for example, users that are visiting wireless network 110 from otherwireless networks.

In another possible implementation, the RL process may be based onsignaling data records obtained from the MSC 250 or another wirelessnetwork element that maintains such information. For example, roundtripdelays between a given mobile user device 112 and multiple base stations114 of the wireless network are often used to determine the mobilelocation via AFLT or other type of cellular triangulation. Theseroundtrip delays can be obtained, for example, from channel cards orother components at each serving base station, and can be forwarded tothe MSC or any other wireless network element. Further, a pilot strengthmeasurement message (PSMM) contains information about the relativeroundtrip delays between secondary and primary serving base stations.The PSMM is frequently provided by the mobile user device during a call.These and other types of signaling data can be recorded together withother relevant information, as for instance, mobile user device ID, cellID, time stamp, etc.

The resulting signaling data records can be forwarded to the LCS 262 oranother wireless network element after certain time periods, uponrequest, or whenever an update has occurred, and stored in an associateddatabase, for example, subscriber information database 106. The databasecan then be queried prior to delivery of location-based service contentin order to eliminate certain users from consideration based on thesignaling data records and thereby limit the number of FL locationrequests that are needed.

Again, this type of RL approach can substantially reduce the number ofFL location requests that are executed. It avoids unnecessary FLlocation requests for registered mobiles that have insufficientcoverage. Also, the resource savings increase with the amount of trafficcalls, in that the higher the network load, the more signaling data isavailable and the fewer FL location requests that need to be executed.Further, this approach facilitates the delivery of location-basedservice content to a mobile user device during or immediately followinga call, at which time the targeted subscriber will likely be moreattentive to the device.

As an estimate of the savings in FL location request execution that canbe achieved using the RL approach, assume that one FL location requestper subscriber per hour would normally be executed. Further assume thatthe likelihood that the subscribers will be active on a call in aparticular hour is around 80% and the likelihood that the subscriberswill send or receive an SMS is around 40%. The combined likelihood forsubscribers to have a traffic channel up during the particular hour is1−(1−0.8)*(1−0.4)=88%. If these subscribers can be located via the RLapproach, the remaining FL location request requirements have beensubstantially reduced, to 100%-88%=12%.

A given RL implementation in accordance with this aspect of theinvention may be based on other types of available information, ratherthan just HLR/VLR registrations or signaling data records as in theabove examples.

The foregoing sections entitled Prioritizing Location Queries,Traffic-Synchronized Location Measurement, Mobile-Initiated LocationMeasurement, Broadcast Channel Delivery of LBS Information, and ReverseLookup disclose exemplary techniques for reducing the number oflocation-related communications in the Gcast™ system 102. It should beunderstood, however, that other types of reduction techniques may beused. Also, the particular features described in the Auctioning ofMessage Delivery Opportunities and User Movement Statistics sectionsabove are just a few of the advantageous features that may be providedby a given implementation of the Gcast™ system 102.

In the following section, examples of particular location measurementtechniques suitable for use in conjunction with the Gcast™ system 102are described in greater detail. These techniques include a trajectorymethod, an expanding-disk method and a nucleation-area method.

Location Measurement Techniques

It will be assumed for purposes of illustration that the locationmeasurement techniques to be described below are implemented in alocation estimation engine that utilizes a data structure to storelocation measurement data. The data structure may be internal to thelocation estimation engine, external to the location estimation engine,or may comprise a combination of internal and external data.

The location estimation engine may be implemented at least in part insoftware running on a processing device of the system 100. For example,the location estimation engine may be part of a system element such asthe LCS 262 of FIG. 2B, or may be distributed across multiple systemelements in the embodiments previously described. At least a portion ofits operations may be implemented using elements such as the locationserver 350 and location and presence query module 360 of FIG. 3.

The data structure utilized by the location estimation engine maycomprise measurement data for each user, including, for example, one ormore of a time stamp; an availability flag; location data such aslatitude, longitude, and location accuracy radius; a velocity flagindicating a derived velocity from two consecutive locationmeasurements; an explicit velocity value from AGPS or an indication ofno reliable value; a vector of average velocity, averaging time frameand speed accuracy; an acceleration flag indicating a reliable value orno reliable value; and a vector of average acceleration and averagingtime frame.

The data structure may also comprise nucleation areas for each user,including, for example, one or more of time data such as time bin index(k), start time and end time; geographic area data such as geographicbin (i,j, step index s), bounding box of bin (SW, NE) and area size; andprobability of finding a user in a nucleation area. These data may beprovided separately for workdays and weekends, or for other arrangementsof different time periods.

The data structure may further comprise availability areas for eachuser, including, for example, one or more of time data such as time binindex (k), start time and end time; and probability that the user isavailable in this time frame. Again, these data may be providedseparately for workdays and weekends, or for other arrangements ofdifferent time periods.

Other types of data that may be present in the data structure includeaccumulate data such as geographic distribution of speed and geographicdistribution of acceleration; and global data such aslocation-prediction confidence level, average and/or worst-case userspeed, typical or average user acceleration, temporal and geographic binsizes and/or bin expansion sequence, nucleation-area cutoff parameter α,lowest lookup rate and non-availability lookup rate, etc.

It is to be appreciated that other types of data structures may be usedin implementing the present invention.

The location estimation engine in this illustrative embodiment providesan estimate of the location of a mobile user device at a given time.Parameters passed to this location estimation function may be useridentifier and time stamp. In the following, it is assumed that the timestamp always refers to the current time.

The location estimation function returns a set of location areas withthe corresponding probabilities to find the particular user {LA,P_(LA)}. This set can be empty. The location areas are either specifiedas circular disks (e.g., center, radius) or as rectangles (e.g.,southwest, northeast). The probabilities are larger than zero and add upto a value smaller than or equal to one:

${P_{LA} \in \left( {0,1} \right\rbrack},{{\sum\limits_{LA}P_{LA}} \leq 1.}$

The location estimation function may also return a parameter thatindicates the probability P_(av) that the user is available at aparticular point in time. The availability parameter captures factorssuch as availability of location information and availability of radioconnection to the user in the network.

The location estimation engine may also provide functions to update theinternal measurement database. These functions can, for example, importmeasurement results from forward lookups (FL) of individual users,import a batch of reverse lookup (RL) data for a larger number of users,or use combinations of these and other techniques. In addition, one ormore functions can be invoked to update user behavior-pattern analysis.

The location estimation engine may use one or more of a number ofdifferent location estimation methods, including, for example, atrajectory method, an expanding-disk method, and a nucleation-areamethod, each of which will be described below.

It is possible for the system to use different ones of these methodsunder different conditions. For example, the trajectory method may beused when recent and reliable velocity measurement data are available,the expanding-disk method may be used when the last location measurementoccurred recently but velocity data are not available or are toounreliable, and the nucleation-area method may be used in all othercases. Numerous other types of switching between these and other typesof location measurement techniques may be used.

As a more detailed example of switching between the various methods, allthree methods may be applied initially in response to a locationestimation request. When no explicit velocity data are available, thetrajectory method uses the last two location measurements to derive suchvelocity information. The trajectory method and the expanding-diskmethod will provide one location area with probability one, LA_(TR) andLA_(ED), respectively. The size of this area captures the uncertainty inall parameters, such as location measurement accuracy, velocity accuracyand probability of user acceleration (including change of direction ofmotion) over time. The nucleation-area method provides a set of locationareas with fractional probabilities {LA_(NA), P_(NA)}.

The three initial estimates provided by the respective methods are thencompared with respect to their total area size. For the nucleation-areamethod, the total area size is set to the area covered by location areaswith an accumulative probability of at least 50%. This evaluationcaptures the fact that multiple location areas can overlap with eachother. The overlap-area is counted only once and the correspondingprobabilities are added up.

Finally, the method that provides the smallest total-area-size is usedfor the location estimate.

As indicated previously, other types of techniques can be used todetermine which of the three exemplary methods, or other methods, shouldbe used under a given set of conditions.

Each of the exemplary methods, that is, the trajectory method, theexpanding-disk method and the nucleation-area method, will now bedescribed in greater detail.

Trajectory Method

The trajectory method is based on the availability of velocityinformation, e.g., speed and direction of motion. Velocity informationis obtained from at least two if not more consecutive locationmeasurements. When AGPS is used, for example, the velocity can bedirectly obtained from one conventional FL. In this case, the FLexecution evaluates a sequence of consecutive location measurements andderives a velocity metric from those. This procedure is part of thewireless communication standard known as IS-801.

When such information is not available, velocity can be derived from themeasurement results of consecutive lookups. At the typical lookup ratesfor each user, one can expect that only the last two locationmeasurements be of value.

Which of these two techniques is used for the velocity estimation shouldbe included in the measurement data (“velocity flag”).

Let the last two location measurements provide the coordinates x ₁ and x₂ at times t₁ and t₂ with radial accuracies of dx₁ and dx₂,respectively. The average velocity between t₁ and t₂ can be derived as:v ₁₂=( x ₁ −x ₂)/(t ₁ −t ₂)

The center of the user location area at the present time can beestimated to:x=x _(i)+ v ₁₂ ·(t−t _(i)),with i=1, 2, i.e., the more recent point of both.

The size of this location area is given by the accuracy of the initiallocation measurements and the accuracy of the derived velocity.

The accuracy of the velocity has two components; one is due to theaccuracy of the location measurement, the other due to the potentialchange of the actual velocity since the measurements have beenperformed:dv=dv _(a) +dv _(b)

For simplicity, we approximate the former contribution of the velocityaccuracy by the accuracy in user speed:

${dv}_{a} = {{{d\;{\underset{\_}{v}}_{a}}} = {\frac{\sqrt{\left( {{dx}_{1}^{2} + {dx}_{2}^{2}} \right)}}{{{\underset{\_}{x}}_{1} - {\underset{\_}{x}}_{2}}} \cdot {\underset{\_}{v}}}}$

The later contribution is modeled through an empirical approach:dv _(b) =∥dv _(a) ∥=a·dt=a·(t−0.5·(t ₂ +t ₁)),where a represents an average acceleration term which is estimated orderived from accumulative data.

The resulting speed accuracy is given by:dv=√{square root over (dv_(a) ² +dv _(b) ²)}.

The radius of the location area becomes:

$\begin{matrix}{r = \sqrt{{dx}_{1}^{2} + {dx}_{2}^{2} + {{dv}^{2} \cdot \left( {t - {0.5 \cdot \left( {t_{2} + t_{1}} \right)}} \right)^{2}}}} \\{= \sqrt{{dx}_{1}^{2} + {dx}_{2}^{2} + {\left( {{dv}_{a}^{2} + {dv}_{b}^{2}} \right) \cdot \left( {t - {0.5 \cdot \left( {t_{2} + t_{1}} \right)}} \right)^{2}}}} \\{= \sqrt{\begin{matrix}{{dx}_{1}^{2} + {dx}_{2}^{2} +} \\{\begin{pmatrix}{\frac{\left( {{dx}_{1}^{2} + {dx}_{2}^{2}} \right) \cdot {\underset{\_}{v}}^{2}}{{{{\underset{\_}{x}}_{1} - {\underset{\_}{x}}_{2}}}^{2}} +} \\{a^{2} \cdot \left( {t - {0.5 \cdot \left( {t - {0.5 \cdot \left( {t_{2} + t_{1}} \right)}} \right)^{2}}} \right)}\end{pmatrix} \cdot} \\\left( {t - {0.5 \cdot \left( {t_{2} + t_{1}} \right)}} \right)^{2}\end{matrix}}}\end{matrix}$

The accuracy contains constant terms (due to the initiallocation-measurement accuracy), terms linear in t (due to the speedaccuracy associated with the location accuracy) and terms quadratic in t(due to the additional acceleration term). Note that the accelerationterm captures both changes in speed and changes in the direction ofmotion.

When velocity information is provided explicitly from one lookupmeasurement, the corresponding speed accuracy dv_(a) should be providedby the network. The second term, dv_(b), however, is included as shownabove. Since the measurement session typically takes a few seconds,which is small compared to typical inter-lookup time frames, t₂ and t₁can be set equal to the time stamp of the last measurement.

In the above trajectory estimation, the user's acceleration has beenapproximated through a scalar parameter. In principle, it is possible toderive the complete acceleration vector from three or more consecutivelocation measurements. With v ₁₂ and v ₂₃ being the average velocitiesbetween times t₁, t₂ and t₂, t₃, respectively, the average accelerationvector computes to:a ₁₂₃=( v ₁₂− v ₂₃)/(0.5·(t ₁ +t ₂)−0.5·(t ₂ +t ₃)).This estimation suggests an accuracy that may not be justified. Sincestrong accelerations, such as changing roads, braking to a stop orgetting into motion, do usually occur on time scales of a few seconds toone minute, which is far shorter than the typically FL time period, thepast measurements can hardly anticipate the present trajectory. It makessense, however, to derive typical average acceleration distributionsfrom location measurements over time. For that reason, the accelerationhas been included into the location-measurement database. It should besufficient to update the aggregate data once every day, although otherupdate periods may be used.Expanding-Disk Method

When velocity information is not available, the user's location area canbe estimated based on an average- or worst-case speed value. Theresulting location area has circular shape and its radius expands withtime (“expanding disk”).

Let the location measurements provide the coordinate x ₁ at t₁ withaccuracy dx₁ and the speed value be v₁ with accuracy dv₁. Since noinformation of the direction of motion is available, the center of thelocation area does not change:x=x ₁.Instead, the radius of the location area will change with time:r=√{square root over (dx₁ ²+(v ₁ ² +dv ₁ ²)·(t−t ₁)²)}{square root over(dx₁ ²+(v ₁ ² +dv ₁ ²)·(t−t ₁)²)}In this estimate, the acceleration term has been neglected. The reasonfor this is that the speed information is very inaccurate and addingadditional complexity through empirical acceleration terms seems notjustified.

The expanding-disk method can be improved when the average- orworst-case speed value is replaced by aggregate, area-specific speeddata obtained from lookups or from external sources. It should besufficient to update the aggregate speed data once every day although,again, other update periods may be used.

Nucleation-Area Method

Definition of Bin Space

The nucleation area analysis operates on a 3-dimensional (3D) bin spacewith coordinates longitude, latitude and time. Each 3D bin is referredto as B_(ijk). The lower dimensional subspaces of each 3D bin arereferred to as “geographic bin” (B_(ij)) or “temporal bin” (B_(k)),respectively. In the geographic plane, the bin space is bound by thebounding rectangle around the network area. In the temporal dimension,it covers the time frame of one day.

For each user, the location measurement data acquired over some extendedtime frame (e.g., 3 months) are assigned to the bin space. Since in theillustrative embodiment we differentiate between user behavior atworkdays and at weekends, we perform the entire process independentlyfor both subsets of measurement data, workdays and weekend days.

The assignment condition for measurement point (x,y,t) to bin B_(ijk)is:(x, y, t)ε B _(ijk) if (x _(i) −dx/2)<x≦(x _(i) +dx/2) and(y _(j) −dy/2)<y≦(y _(j) +dy/2) and(t _(k) −dt/2)<t≦(t _(k) +dt/2),where (dx, dy, dt) represents the bin size, and (x_(i), y_(j), t_(k))the center of bin B_(ijk). Since the temporal component only capturesthe time frame of one day, data taken at the same time but at differentdays are folded into the same temporal bin.

Nucleation Areas Based on Statistical Certainty

The assignment operation leads to a measurement count c_(ijk) for everybin. The total number of measurements for a user during the time frame(t_(k)−dt/2)<t≦(t_(k)+dt/2) is:

$c_{k} = {\sum\limits_{ij}{c_{ijk}.}}$

The total measurement count for a user is:

$C_{tot} = {\sum\limits_{ijk}{c_{ijk}.}}$

When a user exhibits a repetitive behavioral pattern, the locationmeasurement points for that user will nucleate in a small subset ofbins, resulting in higher c_(ijk) counts for those bins. The probabilityP_(ijk) to find a user in B_(ijk) during the k^(th) time interval can beestimated to:

${P_{ijk} = {c_{ijk}/c_{k}}},{{{with}\mspace{14mu} P_{k}} = {{\sum\limits_{ij}P_{ijk}} = 1.}}$

Note that P_(ijk) is normalized with respect to each temporal bin, notthe whole day.

In principal, each bin with non-zero P_(ijk) could be defined as onenucleation area NA_(ijk). If all these nucleation areas are kept inmemory, they can be used to find the set of location areas, {LA}_(k),where the user can be found at t ε B_(k) with the associatedprobability, P_(ijk). This approach, however, leads to reliable resultsonly when the uncertainty dP_(ijk) of P_(ijk) is much smaller thanP_(ijk) itself. This means that the set of nucleation areas should belimited to those that meet the condition α·P_(ijk)>dP_(ijk), where α isa design parameter. The probability error dP_(ijk) can be estimated to:dP _(ijk) =dP _(k)≈1/√{square root over (c_(k))}=1/√{square root over(Σ_(i′j′) c _(i′j′k))}.It has the same value for all bins with same time index k. The minimumnumber of counts per nucleation area is:c _(k) ^(min) =α·√{square root over (c_(k))},which means that only bins with c_(ijk)>c_(k) ^(min) can becomenucleation areas.

A reasonable value for a can be found in the following manner. Since theprobability error dP_(k) is independent of P_(ijk) itself, we can dividethe probability space into equidistant bins of size dP_(k) and assignthe various P_(ijk) values into this space. The lowest bin has P₀=0, thenext lowest P₁=dP_(k), and so forth. Nucleation areas should be createdfor all B_(ijk) whose P_(ijk) are not in the lowest bin, which sets thecondition P^(ijk)>P₁/2 or α=0.5.

Incremental Bin-Size Expansion

The number of measurement points provided under typical lookup rates(e.g., once per hour) is small, even if an extended time frame is chosenfor data acquisition. As a result, the above nucleation-area method maymiss user patterns that stretch over several bins due to the lack ofcounts. The following example illustrates this phenomenon.

Assume that every user is looked up approximately once per hour over 1month=31 days. This corresponds to approximately 19 working days or anaverage of c_(k)=19 location measurements per hour. We assume that thetemporal bin size is 1 hour. The cutoff count is c_(k) ^(min)≈2.18 forα=0.5; the minimum number of counts per nucleation area is thereforec_(ijk)=3. For this cutoff, the maximum number of nucleation areas pertemporal bin is 19/3=6. When the 19 measurements points are distributedover 13 bins, with each holding 1 to 2 counts, none of them can beidentified as nucleation area since they do not meet conditionc_(ijk)>c_(k) ^(min). Some of these bins may be scattered, while othersare grouped in close vicinity to each other. The latter ones holdstatistically significant information about the presence of the user inthe associated area. This information can be extracted if a larger binsize is used. For example, an extension of the geographic bin size by afactor of four may be sufficient to identify multiple nucleation areaswith c_(ijk)>c_(k) ^(min). Thus, it may be necessary to repeat thenucleation-area analysis over a large scale of bin sizes to capturenucleation patterns on different length scales.

Geographic Bin-Size Expansion

The nucleation area analysis is repeated multiple times with ascendinggeographic bin size. In each increment, the geographic bin size can beincreased simultaneously in both longitude and latitude. The bin sizemay be stepped up geometrically, e.g., using a multiplier of two foreach geographic component or, equivalently, a factor of four for thegeometric bin area.

In every step, all measurement points that have formed nucleation areashave to be taken out of the total set of measurement points used for thesubsequent step. This avoids a situation where the same measurementpoints contribute to multiple nucleation areas.

An algorithm for implementing this aspect of the nucleation-area methodis as follows:

1. Select measurement-data set for evaluation (e.g., workdays over 3months).

2. Set temporal bin size (e.g., 1 hour).

3. Set smallest geographic bin size (e.g., 500 meters).

4. Pre-assign measurement data to temporal bins and compute c_(k) foreach of them.

5. Loop over all temporal bins, k:

-   -   A. Loop over all geographic bin sizes, stepping index s:        -   a. Assign measurement data set to geographic bins.        -   b. Determine measurement count per bin c_(ijk) ^(s).        -   c. Identify new nucleation areas NA_(ijk) ^(s) based on            c_(ijk) ^(s)>c_(k).        -   d. Deplete measurement-data set by measurement points            assigned to the new nucleation areas NA_(ijk) ^(s) of step            s.        -   e. Increase geographic bin size by factor 4.        -   f. Break: When geographic bin size is larger than network            area.

6. End algorithm.

The location areas {LA}_(k), where the user can be found at time t, canbe derived from the subset of nucleation areas NA_(ijk) ^(s) with t εB_(k). As before, the associated probabilities are: P_(ijk) ^(s)=c_(ijk)^(s)/c_(k). Note that location areas of different geographic size canoverlap each other.

Simultaneous Expansion of Temporal and Geographic Bin-Size

While the above algorithm can recognize nucleation areas of varyinggeographic length scales, it may miss patterns that last over longertime frames, i.e., multiple temporal bins, rather than a large number ofgeographic bins. To capture such patterns, the algorithm may includevariations of the temporal bin size as well. This variation should occurindependently from the variation of the geographic bin size to recognizenucleation over a small geographic area but long time frames and viceversa.

Since every nucleation analysis reduces the measurement data set bythose assigned to the new nucleation areas, each step influences theoutcome of the subsequent step. When scanning over a 2-dimensional (2D)parameter space (temporal and geographic bin size), it may not be clearwhich sequence will lead to the best results. Also, it may not be clearwhat the appropriate metric should be to rank and compare the outcome ofdifferent scanning sequences. The outcome may further depend on thechoice of the initial (i.e., smallest) temporal and geographic binsizes. Reasonable values could be 0.75 hours (=45 minutes) for thetemporal bin and 500 m for longitude and latitude. This choice wouldcreate 32 temporal bins and around 40,000 geographic bins for a 100km×100 km market, i.e., 200 in each geographic dimension.

Two potential sequences are shown in TABLE 1 below. Sequence A keeps amonotonic order for the 3D bin-size increments and gives temporalexpansion priority over geographic expansion. This sets the focus onpatterns, where the user sits at one spot for a long time. Sequence Bkeeps the product of step increments in the temporal and in onegeographic dimension monotonic, and expands first geographic bins, thentemporal bins. This emphasizes patterns where the user roams over alarger geographic area for shorter time frames, which may better suitpractical applications.

TABLE 1 Sequence A Sequence B Bin Bin component Bin Bin component Sizemultipliers Size multipliers Inc s (n_(x) ^(s), n_(y) ^(s), n_(t) ^(s))Inc s (n_(x) ^(s), n_(y) ^(s), n_(t) ^(s)) 1 (1, 1, 1) 1 (1, 1, 1) 2 (1,1, 2) 4 (2, 2, 1) 4 (2, 2, 1) 2 (1, 1, 2) 4 (1, 1, 4) 16 (4, 4, 1) 8 (2,2, 2) 8 (2, 2, 2) 8 (1, 1, 8) 4 (1, 1, 4) 16 (4, 4, 1) 64 (8, 8, 1) 16(2, 2, 4) 32 (4, 4, 2) 16 (1, 1, 16) 16 (2, 2, 4) 32 (4, 4, 2) 8 (1, 1,8) 32 (2, 2, 8) 256 (16, 16, 1) 32 (1, 1, 32) 128 (8, 8, 2) 64 (8, 8, 1)64 (4, 4, 4) 64 (4, 4, 4) 32 (2, 2, 8) 64 (2, 2, 16) 16 (1, 1, 16) 128(8, 8, 2) 1024 (32, 32, 1) 128 (4, 4, 8) 512 (16, 16, 2) 128 (2, 2, 32)256 (8, 8, 4) 256 (16, 16, 1) 128 (4, 4, 8) 256 (8, 8, 4) 64 (2, 2, 16)256 (4, 4, 16) 32 (1, 1, 32) 512 (16, 16, 2) 4096 (64, 64, 1) 512 (8, 8,8) 2048 (32, 32, 2) 512 (4, 4, 32) 1024 (16, 16, 4) 1024 (32, 32, 1) 512(8, 8, 8) 1024 (16, 16, 4) 256 (4, 4, 16) 1024 (8, 8, 16) 128 (2, 2, 32). . . . . . . . . . . .

Another aspect that should be considered when expanding in the temporaldimension is that various time intervals B_(k) can have different totalcounts c_(k). In the following, index k refers to the smallest temporalbin and index l to any other, eventually expanded, temporal bin. Toaccount for variations of c_(k) over all k, the count fractionsz_(ijk)=c_(ijk)/c_(k) instead of the counts c_(ijk) are used for theanalysis. The associated certainty for each count fraction isdz_(ijk)=√{square root over (c_(k))}/c_(k)=1/√{square root over(c_(k))}. For the temporally expanded bin, B_(l), the total countfraction and its certainty are:

${z_{ijl} = {{\sum\limits_{B_{k} \in B_{l}}{z_{ijk}\mspace{14mu}{and}\mspace{14mu}{dz}_{ijl}}} = \sqrt{\sum\limits_{B_{k} \in B_{l}}\left( {dz}_{ijk} \right)^{2}}}},$where the sum is taken over all smallest-size bins B_(k) contained inB_(l).

The cutoff for nucleation areas can be defined as before:z _(l) ^(min) =α·dz _(ijl).

An algorithm for implementing the above approach is as follows.

1. Select measurement-data set for evaluation (e.g., workdays over 3months)

2. Set smallest temporal bin size (e.g., 0.75 hours).

3. Set smallest geographic bin size (e.g., 500 m).

4. Loop over temporal and geographic bin sizes, stepping index s:

-   -   A. Assign measurement data to bins    -   B. Compute c_(k) with respect to each temporal bin.    -   C. Determine measurement count and count fraction per bin,        c_(ijl) ^(s) and z_(ijl) ^(s).    -   D. Identify new nucleation areas NA_(ijl) ^(s) based on z_(ijl)        ^(s)>z_(l) ^(min).    -   E. Deplete measurement-data set by measurement points assigned        to the new nucleation areas NA_(ijl) ^(s) of step s.    -   F. Increment temporal and geographic bin size according to a        sequence (e.g., Sequence A or Sequence B from TABLE 1). The        associated bin multipliers are n_(x) ^(s), n_(y) ^(s) and n_(t)        ^(s) for the two geographic bins and the temporal bin,        respectively.    -   G. Break: When geographic bin size is larger than network area.

5. For each B_(k), identify the total fractional count z_(ijl) ^(r) forthe remainder, i.e., the smallest-size geographic bins that are notcontained in nucleation areas:

$z_{k}^{r} = {{\sum\limits_{{ij},{B_{ij} \notin {NA}_{ijl}^{s}}}z_{ijk}} = {\sum\limits_{{ij},{B_{ij} \notin {NA}_{ijl}^{s}}}{c_{ijk}/{c_{k}.}}}}$

6. End algorithm.

After all nucleation areas NA_(ijl) ^(s) have been identified, thecorresponding location areas and their probabilities are derived for alocation request at time t. For that purpose, we decompose the NA_(ijl)^(s) into nucleation areas of same-size geographic but smallest-sizetemporal bins:

${NA}_{ijl}^{s} = {\bigcup\limits_{k,{B_{k} \in B_{l}}}{{NA}_{ijk}^{s}.}}$

The count fraction of NA_(ijl) ^(s) gets evenly distributed over alldecomposed NA_(ijk) ^(s):z _(ijk) ^(s) =z _(ijl) ^(s) /n _(t),where n_(t) is the number of B_(k) contained in B_(l).

At time t, the location areas LA_(ijk) ^(s) are equal to the geographiccross sections of all decomposed NA_(ijk) ^(s) with t ε B_(k). Thederivation of the probability P_(ijk) ^(s) for each LA_(ijk) ^(s) isbased on the z_(ijk) ^(s)-values for all i,j,s and on z_(k) ^(r):

$P_{ijk}^{s} = {\frac{z_{ijk}^{s}}{z_{k}^{r} + {\sum\limits_{i^{\prime}j^{\prime}s}z_{i^{\prime}j^{\prime}k}^{s}}}.}$In this equation, the fractional count of z_(ijk) ^(s) has beennormalized to the sum of all fractional counts of decomposed nucleationareas in B_(k) and remaining areas in B_(k). Note that as a result ofthis normalization all location areas derived from one nucleation areaNA_(ijl) ^(s) have same geographic size but can have different P_(ijk)^(s).

Correction to Self-Biasing

The above illustrative approaches work well when the data-acquisitionrate is independent of time and the user's location. One or more of thesmart lookup approaches described elsewhere herein may violate thiscondition since such approaches may, for example, schedule locationupdates more frequently when users have high overlap likelihood withdesired ad regions. This biases nucleation areas around ad regionssuggesting that the user resides in their vicinity more often than he orshe actually does. Although this effect may be self-stabilizing in thesteady state, it does create a delayed response when ad regions change.

This self-biasing effect can be mitigated by performing one or both ofthe following steps.

1. Introducing a guaranteed lowest lookup frequency f_(low) into the SFL(say once per 2 hour period).

2. Normalizing count numbers over time windows of T_(low)=1/f_(low)before entering them into the bin space.

The second step above represents a pre-binning of all measurement datawith respect to the temporal dimension. The pre-binning space Ω_(τ)extends the entire time axis τ of all measurement data and has bin sizeT_(low). The measurement data are entered into this pre-bin space foreach user. Then the number of counts γ_(τ) per time bin Ω_(τ) isdetermined. When the measurement data are entered into the bin spaceB_(ijk), each count's contribution to c_(ijk) is weighted by 1/γ_(τ) ofits pre-bin. This leads to a fractional value for c_(ijk). This fractioncount will then be normalized by c_(k) to create z_(ijk), etc.

An algorithm for implementing the above approach is as follows.

1. Select measurement-data set for evaluation (e.g., workdays over 3months)

2. Set time frame T_(low) for pre-binning.

3. Pre-bin data into Ω_(τ).

4. Determine counts γ_(τ) per Ω_(τ).

5. Set smallest temporal bin size for bin space (e.g., 0.75 hour).

6. Set smallest geographic bin size for bin space (e.g., 500 m).

7. Loop over temporal and geographic bin sizes, stepping index s:

-   -   A. Assign measurement data to bins with pre-bin weight factor        1/γ_(τ).    -   B. Compute c_(k) with respect to each temporal bin.    -   C. Determine measurement count and count fraction per bin,        c_(ijl) ^(s) and z_(ijl) ^(s).    -   D. Identify new nucleation areas NA_(ijl) ^(s) based on z_(ijl)        ^(s)>z_(l) ^(min).    -   E. Deplete measurement-data set by measurement points assigned        to the new nucleation areas NA_(ijl) ^(s) of step s.    -   F. Increment temporal and geographic bin size according to a        sequence (e.g., Sequence A or Sequence B in TABLE 1). The        associated bin multipliers are n_(x) ^(s), n_(y) ^(s) and n_(t)        ^(s) for the two geographic bins and the temporal bin,        respectively.    -   G. Break: When geographic bin size is larger than network area.

8. For each B_(k), identify the total fractional count z_(ijl) ^(r) forthe remainder, i.e., the smallest-size geographic bins that are notcontained in nucleation areas:

$z_{k}^{r} = {{\sum\limits_{{ij},{B_{ij} \notin {NA}_{ijl}^{s}}}z_{ijk}} = {\sum\limits_{{ij},{B_{ij} \notin {NA}_{ijl}^{s}}}{c_{ijk}/{c_{k}.}}}}$

9. End algorithm.

Non-Availability of Users

The illustrative algorithms given above do not specify how measurementdata have to be processed that do not yield any location information.This is the case, for instance, when the user does not have coverage,has powered down his/her mobile device, has roamed to a differentnetwork, or has set a location information restriction (LIR) flag.

It is assumed for purposes of illustration that these conditions may beheld by the location database as “not available” with an associated timestamp. When a user was looked up 100 times during temporal bin B_(k),but was available only twice with geographic bin locations B_(ij) andB_(i′j′), the probability to find the user in either of these two binsshould be set to 0.01 rather then 0.5. This example indicates that thenon-availability should be taken into account in the normalization.

For this purpose an additional geographic bin B_(ij)=B_(off) may beintroduced, which has no neighbor relation with any other bin, but whoseentries are considered in the total count c_(k). This automaticallyincludes non-availability into the location area probabilities.

It further makes sense to provide availability information as anadditional property to a smart lookup process. This allows a reductionin the number of lookups to levels significantly below f_(low) for usersthat are never (or hardly ever) available. The corresponding lookup ratef_(off). To avoid an additional pre-binning operation on time scaleT_(off)=1/f_(off), measurement data with consecutive “non-availability”results that are more than one T_(flow) apart are filled in withartificial non-availability data at the center of all Ω_(τ) pre-binsin-between. These additional data are also entered into the bin spaceB_(ijk).

An additional availability-area (AA_(k)) analysis can be performed intemporal dimension with respect to availability alone. This analysisfollows the same concept as the nucleation area analysis, but only inone dimension, that is, the temporal dimension. It allows identifyingthe typical time frames for each user where the user is not available,e.g., during nights or during weekends. As a result, a smart lookupprocess could save throughput resources by looking up these users at avery low rate.

Nucleation-Area Update Frequency

Since nucleation areas capture the integral user behavior over a longertime frame, they are relatively insensitive to the most recent locationupdates. Thus, such areas need not be updated very frequently. Forexample, it may be sufficient in a given application to update allnucleation areas at the end of each day (e.g., at midnight). Of course,other update frequencies may be used in other embodiments.

Again, it is to be appreciated that the particular system elements,process operations and other features of the illustrative embodimentsdescribed above are presented by way of example only. As indicatedpreviously, the above-described techniques can be adapted in astraightforward manner for use in other types of wireless communicationsystems and with other types of location-based services. In addition,the invention can be applied to sub-networks or other designatedportions of a given wireless network, or to combinations of multiplewireless networks or other networks of potentially differing types.These and numerous other alternative embodiments within the scope of theappended claims will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.

1. A method of providing location-based services, the method comprisingthe steps of: receiving requests to initiate location-based services forrespective ones of a plurality of mobile user devices associated with awireless network wherein each of said requests would ordinarily requiredelivery of at least one location query to a corresponding one of theplurality of mobile user devices; prior to delivering the locationqueries to the plurality of mobile user devices, identifying a subset ofthe plurality of mobile user devices, the subset containing particularones of the plurality of mobile user devices for which sufficientlocation-indicative information is available from which a generallocation of said particular devices can be inferred without deliveringthe corresponding location queries to said particular devices; andpreventing delivery of the location queries to said particular mobileuser devices in the identified subset; wherein a number of locationqueries required for provision of the requested location-based servicesis reduced relative to a number of location queries which wouldotherwise be required without the identifying and preventing steps; andwherein the step of preventing delivery of location queries comprisespreventing delivery of forward lookup location requests.
 2. The methodof claim 1 further comprising the step of controlling delivery of atleast one message to a given one of the mobile user devices in theidentified subset based on the general location of said device asinferred from the location-indicative information.
 3. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the location-indicative information comprisesinformation indicating which of the mobile user devices are registeredin one of a home location register and a visitor location register of agiven cell of the wireless network.
 4. The method of claim 3 wherein thelocation-indicative information comprises a list of currently-registeredmobile user devices.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein thelocation-indicative information comprises signaling data records of thewireless network.
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the signaling datarecords are stored in a switching element of the wireless network. 7.The method of claim 5 wherein the signaling data records comprise atleast one of a roundtrip delay measurement and a pilot strengthmeasurement.
 8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium havingembodied therein executable program code which when executed by at leastone processing device implements the method of claim
 1. 9. An apparatusfor use in providing location-based services, the apparatus comprising:a location-based services system comprising at least one processingdevice having a processor coupled to a memory; wherein thelocation-based services system is adapted to receive requests toinitiate location-based services for respective ones of a plurality ofmobile user devices associated with a wireless network wherein each ofsaid requests would ordinarily require delivery of at least one locationquery to a corresponding one of the plurality of mobile user devices,and prior to delivery of the location queries to the plurality of mobileuser devices, to identify a subset of the plurality of mobile userdevices, the subset containing particular ones of the plurality ofmobile user devices for which sufficient location-indicative informationis available from which a general location of said particular devicescan be inferred without delivering the corresponding location queries tosaid particular devices; wherein the location-based services system isfurther adapted to prevent delivery of the location queries to saidparticular mobile user devices in the identified subset; wherein anumber of location queries required for provision of the requestedlocation-based services is reduced relative to a number of locationqueries which would otherwise be required without the subsetidentification and delivery prevention; and wherein the location-basedservices system is further adapted to prevent delivery of locationqueries to the mobile user devices in the identified subset bypreventing delivery of forward lookup location requests to said devices.10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the location-based services systemis external to the wireless network.
 11. The apparatus of claim 9wherein the location-based services system is implemented using alayered architecture comprising at least an application support layer,an application enabling layer, a location-based service enabling layerand a network connectivity layer.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11 whereinthe network connectivity layer comprises a location and presence querymodule adapted to obtain mobile user device location and presenceinformation.
 13. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the location-basedservices system is further adapted to control delivery of at least onemessage to a given one of the mobile user devices in the identifiedsubset based on the general location of said device as inferred from thelocation-indicative information.
 14. An apparatus for use in providinglocation-based services, the apparatus comprising: a location-basedservices system comprising at least one processing device having aprocessor coupled to a memory; wherein the location-based servicessystem is adapted to receive requests to initiate location-basedservices for respective ones of a plurality of mobile user devicesassociated with a wireless network wherein each of said requests wouldordinarily require delivery of at least one location query to acorresponding one of the plurality of mobile user devices, and prior todelivery of the location queries to the plurality of mobile userdevices, to identify a subset of the plurality of mobile user devices,the subset containing particular ones of the plurality of mobile userdevices for which sufficient location-indicative information isavailable from which a general location of said particular devices canbe inferred without delivering the corresponding location queries tosaid particular devices; wherein the location-based services system isfurther adapted to prevent delivery of the location queries to saidparticular mobile user devices in the identified subset; wherein anumber of location queries required for provision of the requestedlocation-based services is reduced relative to a number of locationqueries which would otherwise be required without the subsetidentification and delivery prevention; wherein the location-basedservices system is implemented using a layered architecture comprisingat least an application support layer, an application enabling layer, alocation-based service enabling layer and a network connectivity layer;and wherein the location-based service enabling layer comprises alocation server adapted to limit location-related communications betweenthe mobile user devices and base stations of the wireless network by atleast one of eliminating duplicate location queries and prioritizinglocation queries.
 15. An apparatus comprising: a mobile user deviceassociated with a wireless network, the mobile user device beingconfigured for operation as one of a plurality of mobile user devicesassociated with the wireless network, requests to initiatelocation-based services being received for respective ones of theplurality of mobile user devices wherein each of said requests wouldordinarily require the delivery of at least one location query to acorresponding one of the plurality of mobile user devices, the mobileuser device being one of a subset of particular ones of said pluralityof mobile user devices that are identified as having sufficientlocation-indicative information available from which a general locationof said particular devices can be inferred without delivering thecorresponding location queries to said particular devices; whereindelivery of location queries to said identified mobile user devices ofsaid subset is prevented; wherein a number of location queries requiredfor provision of the requested location-based services is reducedrelative to a number of location queries which would otherwise berequired without the subset identification and delivery prevention; andwherein said preventing delivery of location queries comprisespreventing delivery of forward lookup location requests.
 16. The mobileuser device of claim 15 wherein the location-indicative information forsaid mobile user device comprises information indicating if said mobileuser device is registered in one of a home location register and avisitor location register of a given cell of the wireless network. 17.The mobile user device of claim 15 wherein the location-indicativeinformation for said mobile user device comprises information indicatingif said mobile user device is on a list of currently-registered mobileuser devices.
 18. The mobile user device of claim 15 wherein thelocation-indicative information for said mobile user device comprises asignaling data record of the wireless network.